Dear Lord, I think I've inherited my father's dread disease, DSPH

[Dean Thomas]

"DSPH?" you ask. Dead Sand Paper Hording.

My dad never met a piece of sandpaper that he didn't like. In fact, once he met them, he was reluctant to part with them! :p One of the things that I "inherited" many years ago--when he closed up shop as they downsized their home and eventually move to Florida--was a huge collection of used sandpaper!

Although he never spoke it out loud, I caught him doing it a couple of times and so know the practical outworking of his sandpaper philosophy. I'm sharing it here for posterity because I know there will be others in the future who will fall into the same traps (none of the current Creekers, of course).

Dad would use a piece of say 150 grit sandpaper until it would not sand any more. He would then put it in a pile, along with the multitude of other well used chunks. He would use that piece of clogged 150 on another project that called for 220 grit paper. He evidently figured that if it doesn't work as 150, it must have filled up most of the vertical space, and now would grind off much less than it did as new 150 grit.

I would sneak into his shop when he was still in their large house and gather up bags of clogged SP and pitch it. BAGS of the stuff, literally. Sadly, no one sneaks into my shop and cleans up.

And now, I about have to post a sign saying "You are NOT your father! THROW IT AWAY!!!" :p I'll be working away on a project and realize that I have not changed sandpaper for a very long time and that no matter how hard I push, or how hard I try and find a clean spot, the paper ain't making dust, just smoke and dark spots on the wood! And it's just sooooooooo amazing to me when I change to new paper and how quickly the marks go away... Kind of like not sharpening tools until it about hits you in the head that maybe, just maybe, the sucker is dull enough to use as a tongue depressor!

But then, I'm sure that no one else here does stuff like that. Figured I'd share so y'all could have a little Christmas laugh on me. :D

[Brian McInturff]

Gosh Dean, I'm glad I don't have that disease:eek:;).
At least no one knows about it anyway and I ain't telling:D

[David Fried]

Must be contagious! One of the few things I've found that helps is using the clogged paper to sand my tool rest. Keeps the tool rest smooth and shiny and turns the sandpaper black. After that I'm not tempted to reuse it! I also keep a large trash can handy for moral support.

[Raymond Overman]

My adopted motto is to "Use sandpaper like someone else is buying it." However, it is hard to put a piece that's only used once and that looks pretty good into the bin. Good luck with your recovery.

[Harvey M. Taylor]

I store my used sandpaper on the floor. Then, thanks to my wife's good cooking I have developed an oversized middle. Now, when I try to retrieve the sandpaper on the floor, I black out, and that is that. Be warned, Max

[robert hainstock]

I found a vaccine for that problem. Married her and reluctently gave her bench space in the shop. Shes a cleaner upper. I'm never through with a piece of sandpaper i but when it falls to the floor she kina swoops and it is gone. Maybe we all need to get one of these. ;)
Bob

[Matt Meiser]

So it wasn't just my dad who kept a box of used sandpaper?

[Pat Salter]

wasn't that a part of the old "shop" class teaching back in Junior High and High school??

I agree with Raymond. "use sandpaper like someone else is paying for it". I heard Mike Mahoney say that on one of his videos. it has become shop policy where ever I am. :)

[Bernie Weishapl]

Dean I think that mentality came fromt he 1930's. My dad did the same thing. He passed away last month so we had to clean the house and shop so we could sell the place. He had at least 80 V-belts. He said oh I might need one in a emergency or he had several 3 pound coffee cans of nails, screws and bolts. He had sandpaper in a box and I mean a box full. He always said I might need some in a emergency. He would always tell me that in the 30's they didn't throw anything away because they might need it and guessing by the amount of stuff we threw away he kept everything. After growing up with those thoughts I find myself once in a while doing the same thing but have developed a mind change that if I haven't used it in a year or more get rid of it.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Yep if I let mine in the shop I can't find anything and I can actually see the floor and bench tops. :cool::rolleyes:;)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have one but she's allowed in the shop by invitation only. Otherwise, she'd be "rearranging" my stuff and I'd never find anything like in the house!:o

[George Guadiane]

I have one but she's allowed in the shop by invitation only. Otherwise, she'd be "rearranging" my stuff and I'd never find anything like in the house!:o
Mine is afraid to into the shop...
Afraid she might catch what I have!:eek:

[Harvey M. Taylor]

And I thought I had the only one of those. Hah!!

[Tom Sherman]

It's a shame the stuff isn't dated we all might be sitting on a gold mine of Antiques. Or could that be all us Antiques are sitting on a gold mine.

[Dean Thomas]

Every "keeper" should be required to marry a "pitcher". It should be an intransmutable law, but sadly, it's too late for me. We're BOTH keepers and we clean up our respective work areas only when we absolutely have to, when we absolutely can't find something that we know is there, or when we absolutely can't work any more because there just ain't room! :D

Still love her after nearly 36 years of marriage. And they said it would never last!

[Bill White]

I've been in a twelve step program for that illness. Now you've just solved my problem with the "just throw it away" concept. What will my fellow hoarders do now that I am cured?
Bill

[Mike Henderson]

I really had to laugh in reading your post, Dean. I have to force myself to throw used sandpaper away - I always figure there's more life in it. But then I have a pile and can't easily find what I want so I get a new piece, anyway.

Good luck in your recovery program!

Mike

[TYLER WOOD]

Hear Hear Dean. I clean only when necessary, keeps her out of my space! Would love to clean, just don't have time for all the goofing off, lazyitis and other things getting in the way. Ok never mind I don't think I would clean.

[Paul Engle]

So dats where dat disease came from:eek:....:DThanks for the HU Dean...

[Bill Wyko]

I'm the same way. Use it until it's like notebook paper. What you're really supposed to do is use it like someone else is paying for it.:D

[Jesse Cloud]

Laughing out loud - that really hits home. When my dad passed he had about ten old electric motors in the garage, I think from every fridge, washer, and drier we ever owned. He always knew they would come in handy some day.:rolleyes:

BTW, the theory that used sandpaper will work on the next grit is suspicious. At the woodworking school I attend, they are really anal about totally cleaning off any dust from the previous grit. off the wood, off the sanding block, etc. Their theory is that any leftover grit will make new scratch marks while the finer grit is removing them, e.g. digging a hole and filling it back up in the same process.:eek:

[Curt Fuller]

The best sandpaper saving device I've ever had came via an old timer named Fred Hunger who is in our turning club. Since I started using this it just seems like I never have to buy sandpaper, a sheet lasts forever. And I never feel like I'm losing an old friend when I throw a piece away. Check it out....

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=38985

[Dean Thomas]

So, can we utilize some of our stash of used hack saw blades or do we have to have new?? :D

One could even hone the back side of a used blade and make is plenty sharp enough to make good cuts on the paper.

[Pat Doble]

I was a 'keeper' until my mother and I had to deal with the estate of her brother when he passed about 10 years ago. He lived in a old farmhouse that he hadn't let anyone in for quite some time. Every inch of every level of the house was piled at least 2 feet high with stuff - just a path from the door in the kitchen to the bathroom and couch. Also had 3 garages/outbuildings full and a 40' construction trailer he had just purchased to put Lionel train setups in. Spent a whole spring and summer of weekends going through and pitching stuff. He had an entire room full of clock and pocket watch parts and tools from his younger days when his eyesight was better.

Ever since, I purge things pretty regularly. Now it's just wood and turning blanks that I hoard and don't let go of. :D

[Bill Wyko]

That makes sence to me.:D I still have a box with old sandpaper just incase I run out of new paper.:rolleyes:

[Henry C. Gernhardt, III]

Dean---

Don't worry so much about your affliction. It's merely a specific case of a more general class of disorders known as laxuviciutilitis, more commonly known as ``Junk Box Syndrome''. This disorder is most vocally pronounced in some circles as a boon, especially among Amateur Radio enthusiasts.

In the early stages of this disorder, the mantra ``It may come in handy later'' is often heard. As the disorder advances, the rationale of ``One can never have too much/many ____'' may be used. In its most advanced stages, sufferers of this syndrome actually find seemingly useful, and often creative, applications for the stuff that has been accumulated.

I have to admit, though, I'm scratching my head a bit at the potential utility of spent abrasive material. Now if you handed me a few hundred feet of narrow-gauge wire and an old oatmeal canister, that might be a different story... :)